Sipadan Island

Sipadan Island

The internationally famous island of Sipadan lies five degrees north of the equator in the Sulawesi Sea (Celebes Sea). Lying 35km south of Semporna, on Sabah’s mainland, like many tropical islands it is thickly forested and surrounded by sandy beaches. Sipadan is an oceanic island and was formed by living corals growing on top of an extinct undersea volcano, which rises 600m from the seabed.

The geographic position of Sipadan puts it in the centre of the richest marine habitat in the world, the heart of the Indo-Pacific basin. More than 3000 species of fish and hundreds of coral species have been classified in this richest of ecosystems. Sipadan is well known for its unusually large numbers of green and hawksbill turtles which gather there to mate and nest and it is not unusual for a diver to see more than 20 turtles on each dive. Another unique feature to divers visiting Sipadan is the turtle tomb, an underwater limestone cave with a labyrinth of tunnels and chambers that contain many skeletal remains of turtles that became disoriented and then drowned.

The residential schooling barracuda and big-eye trevally, which often gather in thousands forming spectacular tornado-like formations, are one of the highlights of every diver’s wish-list. With the possibility of seeing pelagic species such as mantas, eagle rays, scalloped hammerhead sharks and whale sharks, each dive at Sipadan is a highly anticipated event.

It is not only the big fish that amaze divers coming to Sipadan, the macro life is equally mesmerizing. Garden eels, leaf scorpion fish, mantis shrimps, fire gobies, and various pipefish are guaranteed at various dive sites. The diversity and abundance of marine found at Sipadan gives it its reputation of being one of the ten best dive locations in the world.

Conservation efforts in Sipadan

Sipadan Island was established as a bird sanctuary in 1933 and in 2004, the Government of Malaysia has decided that all onsite dive resort operators are to move their operations out of Sipadan Island by 31st December 2004. The island is open for divers from 6am to 4pm - no night dives are allowed. The number of divers allowed to dive in Sipadan daily has also been limited to 120 pax in an effort to preserve the island’s pristine state.

Sipadan is a treasure which we want to save for the generations to come, before Sipadan can be saved, it must first be truly appreciated - hence the conservation efforts. Nevertheless, a treasure amounts to nothing if it cannot be enjoyed. Therefore, Sabah welcomes everyone to enjoy and appreciate Sipadan, and this appreciation will hopefully incite a bigger desire to save.

Sipadan Dive Sites

There a total of 12 dive sites in Sipadan Island namely the West Ridge, North Point, The Drop Off, Turtle Cavern, Barracuda Point, Coral Gardens, Whitetip Avenue, Mid Reef, Turtle Patch, South Point, Staghorn Crest, Lobster Lair, and the Hanging Gardens. The most popularly recommended dive sites are the Turtle Cavern, Barracuda Point, South Point and Hanging Gardens..